I'll peruse the threads, but specifically as a fairly novice builder in BeerSmith I'm looking to avoid any pitfalls that may not be obvious. I've had success building and implementing 2 recipes in BeerSmith, but it still seem a little to good to be true :-) Any thoughts or experiences? Thanks.

When I was a rookie I used BeerSmith it to design a recipe, thinking that if I adjusted my grain bill and hop schedule to hit the same numbers as beers I loved, I'd have a good recipe. That was not true. I brewed a mediocre beer that appeared in BrewSmith to have the same scale values as great beers I've had. So I learned that it is a good calculator, and once I was proficient with my equipment and could predict water calculations, etc, I found I no longer needed it anyway.

I think the equipment and method profiling is the part I am most concerned with as the equipment options are limited. I've been brewing for about 20 years, calculated grains bills using simple methods as well as BeerSmith, but I feel like an experience like Roberts is looming because there are so many variables. Of course it is best to test ones Smith recipe against best judgement based on experience, and so far I've had success using BeerSmith and with the incredible accuracy and detail of data logging which really trumps my old log books, I don't think I'll outgrow it soon.
Seeking more BeerSmith watch-outs! Thanks.

Ive brewed about 40 batches now with BS. Overall its great, pitfalls I haven't really encountered unless you're inattentive to the equipment setup and/or blindly follow the water volumes.

The only thing I don't like about BS is not being able to add items to my inventory that it doesn't have as current options. This can be solved in recipes by adding something in its database and manually typing in desired information, but I have not been able to do this in the inventory.

Agreed about the ingredients. I've found I have to go through and add a fair amount of stuff (say, Belgian candi syrups). But for what's in there already, it all seems to be pretty accurate.

I've noticed this one recently brewing a Milk Stout (and I recall other programs doing this too) - it doesn't calculate lactose as unfermentable, but rather seems to treat it like a simple sugar and 100% fermentable.

I use other calculators for mash water temps that have always worked for me. I've never really gone by the water volumes, or use the temps that BeerSmith gives me, but from my experience the strike water temp is always high and the sparge water volume is always low.

I love using Beersmith.
I found it took a couple of brews to dial in the equipment profile. I still get some variance in my efficiency, but the beers have been great. You will need to learn what grains go together in what percentages as you can get something that looks good but will not be right by using too much crystal or smoked malt etc.

It is a great tool but it is still that, a tool. If you don't use it right you will not be satisfied with the results.